Jaso finds catching Kazmir for first time a breeze

After never having caught Scott Kazmir, John Jaso found working with the lefty easy as could be.

John Jaso didn’t know for certain that he was catching Sunday until a few hours before the game.

He was told Saturday night that he might, so he was prepared, but since he’d never caught Scott Kazmir, he couldn’t be sure.

“Not even for a stretch in batting practice,’’ Jaso said. “I’ve never caught him. And I was lucky, because Scott is so easy to catch. Now if it had been Sonny Gray, that would have been different.’’

How’s that?

“Scott puts the ball right where he wants to with all of his pitches, he has great command,’’ Jaso said. “But if you call for a two-seamer from Sonny, that pitching is going to jump 2½ feet. And you’ve got to be prepared for him throwing 95 mph. He’s tough to hit and tough to catch.’’

Kazmir is also proving tough to hit, even if the catching part comes easy.

“You can call any pitch he throws in any count,’’ Jaso said. “It’s easy to call a game when he’s on the mound no matter how much you’ve caught him in the past. You can always go to the fastball or the changeup or the cutter or slider.